A battle GA must win

An in-depth story on AOPA.org about the embattled Santa Monica Airport in Southern California notes that its fate could have implications for airports across the country. The subject of a lawsuit by the city to close the airport, SMO “should be the cause célèbre of aviation interests to draw the proverbial line in the sand,” Richard Asper, an airport consultant, is quoted as saying in the story, adding it’s a fight the aviation community cannot afford to lose. “We have to make this one a public outcry.” Read the full story here.

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No MOGAS for California without legislative change to oxygenation requirements. California law (for air quality) requires a certain level of oxygenation in fuels and Mogas does not meet California requirements. We already looked into this for Long Beach. Also, with pending govenmental push for more ethanol (E-15) in unleaded fuels and now users fees looming, the future for LSA and GA is in an uphill battle to attract new and retain old pilots. The allure of flying is not there as it was 40 years ago; many issues to consider including cost and technology versus other ways to spend one’s money.

My first job was with DAC at SMO in 1957. The City seemed to be happy with it at the time and yes, like Meigs Field, if the City rids the citizens of the airport THEY will be the loosers. While one part of me says they deserve it, I cannot in good conscience agree with the City. Keep your damned mitts of the airport City Council.

This battle in CA is lost. You can’t even convince airport managers there to do something meaningful to reduce leaded Avgas use and haul it in from neighboring states where it is available. The AOPA and EAA are doing nothing to help CA pilots get mogas, making all airports there targets for the enviros. Let’s face it, to the general public who has not seen leaded fuel in a vehicle in California in 30 years or more, we pilots must look like prehistoric figures. Noise too can be addressed as they have done well at European GA airports. We are our own worst enemies, and our own alphabet groups have failed us.

The MoGas / unleaded fuel issue isn’t the main story, as I read it, but is a tool thrown in to achieve a result. The remark of one nimby of “small aircraft belching lead over our community” is implausible and the lead pollution has been found by the EPA to be ‘insignificant’.
What’s ironic is that the Moon Children in Santa Monica dream that the airport will become a park, and that they’ll be able to pick the flowers that will grow between the cracks in the asphalt. Anyone with an IQ over 3 knows that the reuse of the airport will be mixed use high density housing, office, theaters and restaurants/commercial, and the main winner will be the City of Santa Monica with the bonanza of property tax and sales tax income that will flow to city coffers. But the stupidity of the lemmings that support this reuse dream only of a closed airport rather than what will become of the land.
The nimbys talk about air pollution from jets, and leaded fuel from the flight school aircraft at SMO – yet the pollution from the mixed use development will be huge. Based on the ElToro EIR, each address gets ten vehicular trips per day (imagine FedEx, postman, meter readers, Mom and Dad going to work, shopping, theater goers, shoppers) and the air pollution from this massive growth is dramatically higher than an airport. It turns out that airports produce little pollution – mainly because most of the area is open space.
To see SMO go will be a loss for everyone – but the tree huggers and hippies in Santa Monica just don’t get it.

Sorry all, but we lost this battle and many others when we allowed King Richard to bulldoze Meigs Field. As long as these NIMBY jerks have a breath left in them and can find liberal bleeding heart judges to support them, this airport is ultimately doomed to the same fate as Meigs.